Diaper cover for infants



June 24, 1969 H. K. DWORK 3,451,063

DIAPER COVER FOR INFANTS FiledMay z, 1967 1 Sheet orz lll I I II ll lulu,"

INVENTOR. DP. 144/2010 K. DwoR/f 4/? man A. MAM/4 4770/3 NE Y June 24, 1969 H. K. DWORK DIAPER COVER FOR INFANTS 2 n w a 5 m 4 S 111v. IA R m 0 2 6 ..m! u w M a 2 7 a 6 9 1 5. V. 4 a 5 M d 9 l i F Ill/Ill RH mm mw 0 AH w 0 m H FIG/06% An mun 4. MAHCH A Tia/m6 Y United States Patent US. Cl. 2-224 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE desirable construction attached to the garment in the area of the ventilation opening.

The present invention relates to a garment, and more particularly, to a pair of pants formed of sheet material. The garment of this invention is particularly useful as a diaper cover for infants made of sheet material of synthetic plastic, rubber or other suitable material.

Previous garments of sheet material, particularly those used as diaper covers for infants which are made of synthetic plastic material readily tear especially in the area of the ventilation or fly opening of the pants which is necessary to provide for ventilation of the garment and to allow for ready adornment and removal of the garment from the body of an infant. Previous pants of this type either did not provide effective reinforcement to prevent tearing in the area of the ventilation of fly opening or they are relatively expensive to manufacture. In garments of this type, it is desirable to provide pants that may be manufactured with relative ease in order to provide a low cost item particularly in making diaper covers for infants where low cost of manufacturing is especially important.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel garment in the form of pants that has highly effective reinforcement in order to prevent the tearing of the garment during use.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a garment that is provided with a reinforced ventilation opening of particularly effective construction. Ky..alitscpe- It is a further object of this invention to provide such a garment formed from a blank of advantageously configured synthetic plastic sheet material.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a garment for use as a diaper cover for infants which may be economically manufactured from the sheet material of synthetic plastic to a pair of pants with a reinforced ventilation opening.

Other objects and advantages will be readily apparent from the following detailed specification and the attached drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the blank of sheet material for forming the garment of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the blank of FIG- URE 1 partially formed into the garment of this invention illustrating the garment turned insideout.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a partially formed garment of this invention with a reinforcing strip attached.

Patented June 24, 1969 FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the reinforcing strip attached to the garment of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view to an enlarged scale illustrating the reinforcing strip attached to the ventilation opening of the garment of FIGURE 3 with a bar tack stitching provided thereon.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective View of the reinforcing strip and ventilation opening of the garment 'of FIGURE 6 in completed form.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the garment of FIGURE 3 with a pair of heat sealed areas at the apex of the ventilation opening.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the garment of this invention.

FIGURE 9 is a plan view, not to scale, of the blank for forming the garment of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, not to scale, of a seam of the garment of FIGURE 7.

It has now been found that the foregoing objects and other advantages can be readily obtained in a garment for use as pants formed from sheet material wherein the garment has a ventilation opening to allow air to circulate between the garment and the body of the user and to provide for facile adornment and removal of the garment. Fastening means is provided on the garment adjacent the ventilation opening for securing the waist band portion about the body of the user. Advantageously, a reinforcing strip is attached to the garment in the area of the ventilation opening for reinforcement, and in addi tion a bar tack stitching is provided for additional reinforcement which secures together the reinforcing strip and the garment in the area of the apex of the ventilation opening.

In order to provide for additional strengthing of the garment in the area of the apex of the ventilation opening, the reinforcing strip is folded back on itself and the bar tack stitching secures together the folded back portion of the reinforcing strip and the garment. To provide even more reinforcement, the folded back portion of the reinforcing strip has a heat sealed area above the bar tack securing the folded back portion of the reinforcing strip and the garment together adjacent the apex of the ventilation opening. Thus, this invention advantageously provides a simple and economical reinforcement of the apex area of the ventilation opening by providing a reinforcement strip which is strengthened by providing a bar stick stitching and a heat sealed area above the bar tack in order to prevent the garment from tearing the area of the apex of the ventilation opening.

In order to strengthen the entire area of the ventilation opening, the reinforcing strip is formed of a single piece of material folded about the edges of the garment formingthe ventilation opening so that the single piece of material extends from a point adjacent the waist band of the garment to the apex of said ventilation opening and back along the opposite side of the ventilation opening to a point adjacent the waist band portion of the garment. Thus, with a garment made of sheet material of a synthetic plastic which readily tears, the garment may be reinforced in the area of the ventilation opening in a highly advantageous and economical manner by the provision of the reinforcing means of the invention about the edges of the garment forming the ventilation opening.

The reinforcing strip may have its opposite edges reversely folded to form flaps on either side of the edges of the garment forming the ventilation opening. The reinforcing strip may be secured to the garment by a double row of stitching wherein one of the rows of the stitching secures the reinforcing strips and the flaps to the garment for further reinforcement in the area of the ventilation opening.

Desirably, the garment may be formed from a blank of synthetic plastic sheet material having an upper margin portion to provide a waist band portion for the user and a pair of cooperating side margin portions, and lower margin portions, the lower margin portion having a pair of spaced apart leg cut out portions. The cooperating side margin portions are heat sealed together over a portion of their length to form a seam and the ventilation opening for the garment. The lower margin portion is heat sealed together over a portion of its length to form a seam and a pair of leg openings for the user.

In another embodiment of this invention, the garment may be formed from a blank of sheet material of a different configuration. This blank has a pair of spaced apart top margin portions to provide a waist band portion for the user. The blank is also advantageously provided with a pair of cooperating side margin portions extending between the pair of top margin portions, wherein each of the cooperating side margin portions have two complementary side edge portions that extend from opposite top margin portions towards the middle! portion of the blank. Each of the cooperating side margin portions also has a leg cut out portion between the two complementary side edge portions. Advantageously, the two complementary side edge portions of both of the cooperating side margin portions are connected to form a pair of seams configuring the blank into a pair of pants with both of the leg cut out portions forming a pair of openings for the legs of the user. In this embodiment, the garment is provided with same highly advantageous reinforcing means for a ventilating opening as the previously described embodiment.

The blank for forming the .pair of pants may be made of a single sheet of synthetic plastic material such as thermoplastic and the pair of seams may be conveniently formed by heat sealing the complementary side edge portions of both of the cooperating side margins to economically and efiiciently form the blank into the configuration of a pair of pants. The complementary side edge portions of both of the cooperating side margin portions desirably are heat sealed into a pair of seams in the form of flaps extending into the interior of the garment. The cooperating side margin portions may have two complementary side edge portions, each of which tapers inwardly from opposite top margin portions to the leg cut out portions in order to configure the garment to the shape of the user. Accordingly, a garment is provided which may be readily formed from a blank of sheet material by simply heat sealing the cooperating side margin portions in a highly advantageous and efiicient manner that lends itself to mass producing garments at relatively low cost.

Conventional fastening means may be provided on the top margin portion adjacent the opening for closing the waist band portion and for facile use of the garment. The blank may also be made of other material such as rubber or cloth and the seams formed by conventional means such as sewing.

The garment of this invention is particularly useful as a diaper cover for infants, however, this advantageous construction also lends itself to manufacturing of pants for adults such as underwear, bathing suits and other items.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a pair of pants, generally designated by the numeral 10, formed from a blank, generally designated by the numeral 12, of sheet material advantageously configured as illustrated in FIGURE 1. The desirably configured blank 12 which may be of synthetic plastic material and has an upper margin portion 14 for forming the waist band portion of the pants 10. A lower margin portion 16 extends generally parallel to the top margin portion 14 and has two-spaced apart leg cutout portions 18 and 20. Extending between the upper margin portion 14 and the lower margin portion 16 are two side margin portions 22 and 24. The lower margin potrion 16 has a portion 16a between the side margin portion 22 and the cutout 18, portion 16b between the two cutout portions 18 and 20 and another portion 16c between the cutout 20 and side margin portion 24.

As illustrated in FIGURE 2, a pair of pants 10 is conveniently and economically formed from the blank 12 by joining the complementary lower margin portions 16a and 16c with the lower margin portion 16b to form a seam 26 by heat sealing the synthetic plastic material to readily form a secure connection. Similarly, the lower part of the side margins 22 and 24 are joined by heat sealing to provide a seam 28 to form a secure connection to give the pants 10 the desired form for fitting about the body of the user. The upper portions of the side margins 22 and 24 are left open to provide a ventilation opening 30 between the seam 28 and the top margin 14.

After forming the seams 26 and 28 the leg cutout portions 18 and 20 are thereby advantageously formed into leg openings 32 and 34, respectively. As illustrated in FIGURE 3, in order that the rubber pants 10 may snugly engage the legs of the user, the leg bands 36 and 38 are attached to the pants 10 about the edges of the leg cutout portions 18 and 20 in a conventional manner such as by stitching. In a similar manner, a waist band 40 of elastic material is attached to the top margin portion 14 so that this portion of the rubber pants 10 will securely engage the waist of the user.

In order to conveniently and economically prevent the tearing of the pants 10 in the area where the ventilation opening 30 meets the seam 28, a reinforcing strip 42 is advantageously attached to the edges of side margins 22 and 24 adjacent the ventilation opening 30 by a double row of stitching 41. As illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4, the reinforcing strip 42 is a single strip of material which is folded over the outside edges of the side margin portions 22 and 24 above the seam 28 so that it has a V- shaped configuration.

As illustrated in FIGURE 4, the reinforcing strip 42 is folded over the edge of side margin portion 22 so that opposite sides thereof are engaged by the reinforcing strip 42. In order to further reinforce this section, the opposite edge of the reinforcing strip 42 are reversely folded back upon themselves forming flaps 42a and 421). One row of stitching 41 secures together the reinforcing strip 42, flaps 42a, 42b and side margin portion 22. The other row of stitching 41 secures together the folded over reinforcing strip 42 and the side margin 22 near the edge thereof. The side margin portion 24 is similarly attached to the reinforcing strip 42 in this advantageous manner to prevent tearing in the area of the ventilation opening 30 during use.

The apex of the reinforcing strip 42 adjacent the seam 28 is reinforced by means of a bar tack stitching 44 in order to prevent the reinforcing strip 42 and the seam 28 from being torn during use of the pants 10. And further, as illustrated in FIGURE 6, the reinforcing strip 42 is additionally reinforced by heat sealing in the area designated by the numeral 46 in order to provide an added reinforcement for the apex of the reinforcing strip 42 to prevent tearing the seam 28.

Accordingly, by providing the highly desirable construction of having reinforcing strip 42 folded about the edges of side margin portions 22 and 24 and by proving the bar tack stitching 44 and heat sealed area 46, the pants 10 is provided with a ventilation opening 30 that is not readily torn during use.

Conventional fasteners 48 are provided on the reinforcing strip 42 adjacent the waist band 40 in order to close the ventilation opening 30 and secure the waist band portion 40 about the body of the user.

As illustrated in FIGURE 7, the bar tack 44 may be in the form of a second heat sealed area 49 so that the apex of the reinforcing strip 42 is reinforced by a pair of heat sealed areas.

Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIGURES 8-10 which shows a pair of pants 50 having the same advantageous reinforcing member for the ventilation opening as the pants illustrated in FIGURES 1-7 but which is formed from a different blank, general- 1y designated by the numeral 52, of sheet material advantageously configured as illustrated in FIGURE 8.

The highly desirably configured blank 52 which may be of synthetic plastic material has generally parallel top margin portions 54 and 56 provided on opposite sides of the blank. Extending between the margin portions 54 and 56 is an upper side margin portion having complementary side edge portions 58a and 58b respectively which taper outwardly towards a centrally disposed leg cut out portion 60 of simicircular configuration. Similarly, on the opposite side of the blank 52 a lower side margin portion has complementary side edge portions 62a and 62b which extend between the top margin portions 54 and 56 and taper outwardly to a leg cut out portion 64 also of a semicircular configuration which extends inwardly towards the oppositely disposed cut out leg portion 60. Thus, an advantageously configured blank 52 is provided for readily forming a pair of pants 50 in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The pair of pants illustrated in FIGURE 8 is conveniently and economically formed from the blank 52 of FIGURE 9 by joining the complementary side edge POI: tions 58a and 58b along seam 66 by heat sealing the synthetic plastic material to readily form a secure connection. In the same manner the complementary side edge portions 62a and 62b are joined by heat sealing to provide a seam 68 to form a secure connection and to give the pants the desired form for fitting about the body of the user.

As illustrated in FIGURE 10, portions of the sheet material of the blank 52 adjacent to the complementary side edge portions 58a and 58b may be heat sealed to form a flap 69 with a neat thin sealing line 69a on the outside of the pants 50. The flap 69 extends into the interior of the pants 50, while the sealing line 69a presents a neat almost invisible seam that is not readily torn. The width of the heat sealing on flap 69 may be varied to form the desired connection. Thus the blank 52 of sheet material may be readily formed into a pair of pants 50 by the relatively simple method of heat sealing the complementary side edge portions 58 and 62 to form seams 66 and 68 respectively thereby providing a pair of pants 50 that has a minimum number of seams for ease and econ omy of manufacture and for providing a pair of pants that does not have a great number of seams that may be torn or separated during use.

After the complementary side edge portions 58a, 58b and 62a, 62b, have been formed into seams 66 and 68, the leg cut out portions 60 and 64 are thereby advantageously formed into leg openings 70 and 72 respectively. In order that the pants 10 may snugly engage the legs of the user about the leg openings 70 and 72, leg bands 74 and 76 are attached to the pants about the edges of the leg cut out portions 60 and 64 in a conventional manner, such as by stitching. In a similar manner a waist band 78 of elastic material is attached to the top margin portions 56 and 58 so that this portion of the rubber pants 50 will be securely engaged about the waist of the user.

In order to provide for ready use or removal of the pants 50, the front portion thereof is cut to provide a ventilation opening extending from the top margin portion 54 downwardly for a desired distance. Reinforcing strip 80 having an apex 83 is provided on the portions of the blank 52 adjacent the opening in order to reinforce this portion of the pants 50 in the same manner as reinforcing strip 42 of FIGURES 1-7. A pair of cooperating conventional fasteners 84 and 84a are provided on the reinforcing strip 80 in order to securely engage the waist portion of the rubber pants 50 about the body of the user without closing the entire ventilation opening and to allow the pants 50 to be easily put on and removed from the body of the user. The reinforcing strip may extend above the waist band 38 in order to provide for facile disconnection of the fasteners 84 and 84a. A second pair of fasteners 86 and 86a may be provided adjacent the fasteners 84 and 84a and are disposed on the waist band 78 in order to provide adjustment in size of the waist portion of the rubber pants 50.

Accordingly, a highly advantageous construction of a pair of pants is provided that has a ventilation opening that is reinforced in particularly desirable manner to prevent tearing. The overlapping construction of the reinforcing strip together with the bar tack stitching and heat sealing provide a novel and economical means of preventing the pants from being torn in the area of the ventilation opening.

Thus, applicants invention allows the making of a reinforced pair of pants from synthetic plastic material which are particularly useful as a diaper cover for infants where low cost of manufacture is an important factor and where tearing of pants of synthetic plastic material has been a problem. Such a pair of reinforced pants is particularly advantageous as it may be constructed with relative ease with the use of mass production methods which cut down the cost of producing such items.

It will be understood that the foregoing description with the details of exemplary structure is not to be construed in any way to limit the invention, but that modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A garment for use as pants for infants formed from synthetic plastic sheet material, said garment having a ventilation opening to allow air to circulate between said garment and the body of the user and to allow for facile use of said garment, fastening means on said garment adjacent said ventilation opening for securing the waist band portion of said garment about the body of the user, a reinforcing strip attached to said garment along the edges of said ventilation opening, said reinforcing strip being folded back on itself at said apex of said ventilation opening, and wherein said folded back portion of said reinforcing strip has a heat sealed area securing said reinforcing strip and said garment together adjacent said apex of said ventilation opening, said reinforcing strip being a single piece of material folded about the edges of said garment forming said ventilation opening, said single piece of material extending from a point adjacent the waist band portion of said garment along one edge to the apex of said ventilation Opening and back along the other edge to a point adjacent the waist band portion of said garment, said garment being formed from a blank of synthetic plastic sheet material, said blank having a pair of spaced apart top margin portions to provide a waist band portion for said garment, and said blank having a pair of cooperating side margin portions extending between said pair of top margin portions, each of said cooperating side margin portions having two complementary side edge portions, each of said side edge portions extending from opposite top margin portions towards the middle portion of said blank, and each of said cooperating side margin portions having a leg cut out portion between said two complementary side edge portions; said two complementary side edge portions of both of said cooperating side margin portions being heat sealed to form a pair of seams configuring said blank into a pair of pants with said leg cut out portions forming a pair of openings for the legs of an infant, and said garment having an opening extending downwardly from one of said top margin portions of said waist band portions forming said ventilating opening of said garment.

2. The garment of claim 1 wherein each of said complementary side edge portions tapers outwardly from opposite top margin portions of said leg cut out portion.

3. The garment of claim 2 including bar tack stitching 2,728,439 12/ 1955 Murphy et a1. 156-306 XR further attaching said reinforcing strip to said garment 2,933,085 4/1960 Jacques 128-158 XR between said apex of said ventilation opening and said 3,025,856 3/1962 Burwell et a1. 128288 heat sealed area.

References Cited 5 1333 179 mfgz g s PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,322,170 6/1943 Snyder. H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner.

2,549,374 4/1951 Friedman.

2,570,498 10/1951 Senderowitz. US. Cl. X.R.

2,575,701 11/1951 Artzt. 10 156 93, 306; 16152 2,661,738 12/1953 Frledman. 

